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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23879038">Stop, breathe out and shoot</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Haibaka_luvs_nyaku/pseuds/Haibaka_luvs_nyaku'>Haibaka_luvs_nyaku</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Voltron: Legendary Defender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Zombies, F/M, Fluff, Love/Hate, M/M, Multi, Zombie Apocalypse, Zombies, they're bad with feelings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-03 01:46:47</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,215</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23879038</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Haibaka_luvs_nyaku/pseuds/Haibaka_luvs_nyaku</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When a stupid virus decides to ruin the lives of a couple of friends, Lance and Keith try their best to protect their loved ones, not knowing that, soon enough, they'd be protecting each other as well.</p><p>basically, zombies are bad and klance gay</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Keith/Lance (Voltron), Matt Holt/Shiro</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>29</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Stop, breathe out and shoot</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>Stop, breathe out and shoot. Stop, breathe out and shoot.</em>
</p><p>He smiled upon seeing a clearer path and he ducked his head inside the car again, rolling the window up once more.</p><p>"Thanks, Lance." Hunk gave him a smile after the relieved sigh he let out.</p><p>"I got you covered, buddy." Lance laughed. He gently locked his gun, putting it on safe mode before placing it on the back seat. "Where are we off to?" Hunk tensed a little and he glanced briefly at Lance. Lance could see the hesitation in his best friend's face, and he couldn’t help the frown that settled on his lips, "Hunk?"</p><p>"I got a message from Pidge."</p><p>Lance's brown eyes widened in shock and he felt his jaw drop open, "w-what?"</p><p>"She managed to meddle with a few cables and wires, y'know, Pidge stuff. She managed to send me a very <em>very </em>weak message through WhatsApp." Hunk scratched the back of his neck, handing the phone to Lance.</p><p>After the state of mild shock, Lance felt his chest swell with happiness and he grinned, taking the phone from Pidge. "Come 'ere, Green, your boss is a smart one, check this out." Lance chuckled as he moved to the back, talking to the big German Shepperd. The dog barked once before jumping to the seat beside Lance, wagging his tail at the sound of his owner's name as Lance replayed the voice audio Pidge sent.</p><p>"<em>Alright, I don’t even know if this is even going to send, or, if you guys are close enough to get the signal and have </em>any <em>service but, if you are then dope because I found my brother," </em>her voice showing excitement before she continued, <em>"and Keith and Shiro, but I'll tell you about it later, so, just come to the Altea Shopping Center, we’re headed there. You should have enough service to use your mobile data, I made sure of it and–"</em> a loud crash cut her voice and when she spoke again, her voice was further away from the phone. "<em>Shit, Shiro watch your– Keith! I have to go, guys, please come quick, we need help. I miss you, Green!" </em>The last words were rushed and with that, the message ended.</p><p>Lance sat still for a few seconds and he could see Green's head move from side to side, trying to understand why on earth her voice was coming through the phone and Lance let out a shaky breath. He locked the phone, giving Green a small smile and patting her head before moving to the front seat again. He slid Hunk's phone back in his pocket.</p><p>"You okay, buddy?" Hunk asks in a soft voice, trying his best to look at him as he drove around the abandoned cars and dead bodies on the road.</p><p>"Of course," Lance confirms with a confident nod. "Let's go find our Gremlin, buddy."</p><p>With that, Hunk pressed harder on the pedal and they were speeding towards their new destination.</p><p>*</p><p>Pidge slid down against the wall with a painful grunt, panting and holding the empty gun against her chest in fear. "Pidge!" The sudden shout caused her jump, startled and in shock before the same voice called out for her again, this time, in a more desperate plead, "Katie, please, where are you?" Pidge identified the voice as her brother's and she struggled to stand up again, throwing an arm up in hope that she'd be noticed.</p><p>A relieved sigh was then heard, and Pidge smiled softly, collapsing yet again in pain as Matt reached and crouched down beside her. "What is it, where are you hurt?"</p><p>Pidge held back the groan when Matt accidentally touched her side, slightly rolling her body to protect the wound and Matt sighed, a frown on his face. "You have a cut on your stomach, what happened?"</p><p>Pidge struggled to speak but took a breath and gave him a smirk, "some girl decided to die with sharp nails."</p><p>Matt chuckled at the comment and ripped her shirt just enough for him to see the cut clearer. Pulling out the smaller white bag with the medical items, he shouted for both Shiro and Keith, who simply run towards them, still shooting.</p><p>"What's up?" Shiro breathes out. He gives the siblings a single glance and his eyes widened. He dropped down beside them, taking the disinfectant bottle to clean the cloth in Matt's hands. "Take the left to help Keith, they're nearly all gone," he told Matt, hands moving to help the girl. Matt was hesitant to leave his sister, but complied anyway, and gave Shiro the trust he needed before standing up again, breathing out shakily and taking out his gun.</p><p>One by one, he shot the dead creatures moving on sheer instinct, limping their way towards the four exhausted friends.</p><p> "Keith–"</p><p>"I got it, you keep them far from you, guys," Keith was quick to say, giving him a smile. It only took a second for Keith to start running, gun already forgotten on his belt with a Katana at hand and Matt looked after his figure, shooting at the threats who drew way too close to comfort.</p><p>To know that someone like Keith was on their side, was a huge relief. Matt was sure that without the two brothers, Pidge and him, wouldn’t have made it this far. To make things better, Shiro's unbelievable medical knowledge was the only thing keeping the group somewhat decent and out of death’s hands, not adding the few little things he always healed for them.</p><p>After what it seemed like forever, Matt finally lowered his gun, and he took a few moments to regain his breath, leaning on his knees for support as he remembered his sister's condition. With a sprint, he avoided the objects on the floor to reach the location he last left Pidge and Shiro at, sighing in relief when he saw the two still in the same place.</p><p>"How is she?" Keith speaks instead of him, though, walking towards them, wiping the sweat on his forehead. He was focused on cleaning the disgusting liquid still evident on his weapon, with a rag he picked up from the floor and once he thought it was good enough, he threw the piece of fabric to the side, still holding the Katana tight.</p><p>"I don't know," Shiro said, glancing at Keith before properly looking at Matt. He looked for words to soothe the horror on his face but settled on with a sigh and a soft encouraging smile, "we need to get a better place to check her wounds."</p><p>Matt nodded, stiffness evident on his body and he stood up, "what now?" He asked, crossing his arms over his chest.</p><p>"I disinfected it. We just need to cover it with something clean." Shiro looked at Pidge, offering her a smile and, really, Shiro was the only one amongst them who actually knew what he was doing. For that reason, solely, Pidge gave him a confident nod.</p><p>“Okay,” Keith nodded too, looking around them, “where do we get something clean?”</p><p>Silence.</p><p>Considering the situation, they really couldn’t get <em>anything</em> clean. Especially not something to wrap her up with. Shiro glanced at his brother and turned to Matt, “we’d need to, uhm… move locations.”</p><p>He half expected for Matt to be the hesitant one, telling them to stay put as he searched for what they needed but everyone was shocked when Pidge actually broke the uncomfortable silence, “no.”</p><p>Matt blinked, dumbfounded.</p><p>“What do you mean <em>no</em>?”</p><p>“I mean, no,” she glared at Keith. “I contacted my friends – I think, so, we need to wait for them to get here.”</p><p>“Katie, you have a hole in your body.”</p><p>“Technically, it’s not a hole, I was just stabbed,” she chuckles nervously, ignoring the glare her brother gave her and she sighed. “Lance and Hunk have a bag of clean and medical stuff in the car, they can help.”</p><p>Shiro sat back, leaning on his hands. He let his brain do the thinking, counting all the things that could possibly go wrong with her statement, keeping in mind the open wound on her abdomen, just sitting there on her small body. Honestly, the bleeding had stopped, which was already good. It wasn’t too big, there was no need for stitches and if she didn’t move much, he was sure that within a day or two, she’d be more capable of standing. Keith and Shiro shared a glance, the older of the two raising a shoulder, and Keith nodded.</p><p>"Right," he started, “how long has it been, Pidge?"</p><p>Pidge perked up at the sound of her name.</p><p>"Four days or something..." She mumbled, scratching her forearm. "You can check the phone and see if it has anything."</p><p>Matt looked at her hand and where it was pointed, and he nodded, taking the cellphone from the bag all four of them shared. He held his breath as he searched for it, avoiding the extra ammo and weapons they had safe for urgencies and smiled briefly when he grabbed the phone.</p><p>"So?" Keith's voice brought him out of his daze, urging forwards to take the phone out of his hands. "Out of battery? Seriously?" Keith let out a groan and he ran a dirty hand through his long hair. Keith had quite the temper, he, himself, knew it too. He forced his stubborn self to take a deep breath and calm down, handing the phone back to Matt before anything else was done.</p><p>Matt let a deep sigh out and threw the phone back in the back, zipping it shut, "what now?"</p><p>"It’s been that long and there are still no sights of them, so, we need to find something to cover this with,” Shiro pointed at Pidge’s wound. She placed her hands on the floor and attempted to sit up a bit but ended up wincing in pain, slouching against the wall. “After that, we… wait?" Shiro said, the words coming out as more of a question than a statement itself.</p><p>The four stayed in silence, unsure of what to do or where to start.</p><p>“I’ll check around this place. It was a shopping centre, right?” Pidge nodded at Keith’s question. “Great, so, there has to be some store or something with medical stuff.”</p><p>“Let’s change, I’ll look for the stuff and you guard the openings,” said Shiro instead. He stood from his place, cracking his neck before grabbing his gun from the floor. The brothers exchanged a few other words before both parted ways and the Holts were left alone.</p><p>Matt decided to sit down, take in the quiet as it was. He looked at his sister, noticing how her face scrunched up in pain when she moved way too much.</p><p>"You okay?"</p><p>"Yeah," Pidge nodded quickly. A moment of hesitation stopped her from continuing, "just... my head really hurts, I was trying to find a comfortable position to sit in."</p><p>Matt glanced around the place once more but when he found nothing remotely soft, he slipped his jacket off his shoulders, folding it just enough for it to reassemble a pillow, "can you try to lay down, <em>slowly</em>?"</p><p>Pidge gave him a nod, smile on her lips and did so, groaning. Her brother tried his best to help her, hands on her back to slow her movements and he slipped the jacket under her head.</p><p>"Thanks, Matt," She said, smiling genuinely and squeezing his hand.</p><p>Matt ignored the cold chill that went through his arms and returns her smile, shaking her off. "It's really no problem."</p><p>Matt was left to his thoughts, closing his eyes as he let his ears taking in every detail around him, ignoring the horrible smell surrounding the group. The warmth of Pidge’s hand on his made him relax slightly, knowing that his sister was beside him, and, without realizing it, sleep was already crowing his vision.</p><p>Keith, however, never got any wink of sleep. He didn’t before this whole mess started, and he sure as hell wasn't getting it now – definitely not now. He needed to be ready for anything, at any time, and he couldn't do that if he was busy sleeping. Keith needed to be able to protect the ones he loved and those who trusted him. There were times, though, where Keith just wanted to give up and let the dead-living creatures get to him – maybe, that way he’d finally get some rest and sleep without stupid nightmares. When times like that came, he was always happy to have his brother around and save his ass, serving as a reminder that, no, he couldn’t live Shiro by himself.</p><p>Hence, the relief he felt when he found himself up and breathing when he heard the sound of a car approaching them. Keith was always the one with bad temper in the family, so, the first thing he did was get his gun. Even if he sucked with guns, there was no way he was waiting for the car to get close enough to use the Katana. That being said, he safely placed it on the ground next to his feet and with a single move, he cocked his gun, waiting.</p><p>"Keith?"</p><p>Keith spared his brother a glance, silently telling Shiro to come over with a nod towards the moving vehicle. Shiro left the plastic he was carrying on top of one of the counters nearby, hand already resting on the weapon at his waist and he walked beside Keith, eyes widening at the sight.</p><p>"What…" Shiro paused. He squints his eyes, almost like as if he didn’t have perfect eyesight and his heart skipped a beat, "is that a car?"</p><p>Keith held the urge to give him a snarky remark, anxiety crawling up his sore body and the two watched the car getting closer to them. Shiro visibly stiffened, and his hand tightened around his handgun, muscles tensing in anticipation.</p><p>"Yeah, but, who's car and who's in it?"</p><p>There was silence among the two.</p><p>Keith remained still, weapon raised and ready to fire when the doors of the black jeep opened, and two healthy-looking figures (giving the circumstances) stepped out. Keith could see that, both boys and of darker skin tone than him, not that it was very hard. Only, one of them was taller than the other. One had a lighter brown on his hair, matching his skin tone whilst the other, despite being bigger and buffer, had a different tone of brown to contrast with his black hair.</p><p>"Well, they're definitely human," Shiro said under his breath, letting out a sigh of relief.</p><p>Both Keith and Shiro watched, in silence as they talk to each other, exchanging words in a rapid manner. Until, the skinnier of the two, suddenly raised his gun, gesturing towards Keith and Shiro. Without thinking and letting instinct take over, Keith felt his finger press on the trigger, and he froze, realizing what he had just done. Shiro, who was wide-eyed staring at him, just punched him in the shoulder, hissing out his name.</p><p>The two unknown humans seemed shocked and just as surprised as Shiro was, and Keith only snapped out of it when he saw the skinnier boy, noticeable anger on his face, marching towards them.</p><p>"Shit," Keith said under his breath. He dropped his arm, after pressing the safety lock, and he raised his hands up in surrender, trying to show no harm to the new people. Shiro took a small step back, hand grabbing at the back of Keith’s t-shirt and, it was only when the two newcomers were close enough that Keith could hear the few words being exchanged between them.</p><p>"Lance, calm down–"</p><p>"This dude literally just shot at you, and you're telling me to calm down?!" The skinnier boy – Lance, exclaimed as he glanced over his shoulder, but quickly facing Keith again, glaring daggers at him.</p><p>Lance was pissed. It was clear to anyone with eyes or within a 10-meter radius.</p><p>Despite the horrible atmosphere and situation, it was to no surprise when Lance came rushing towards Keith, fingers shut tight into a fist as he swung his arm back, targeting his face.</p><p>Thankfully, Keith was always ready for situations like this – the six years of boxing coming in handy more than once. All Keith really had to do, was dodge the hit by taking a step back to balance his body weight. He wasn’t planning to hurt Lance, like, at all.</p><p>It really wasn’t his fault that his body moved on its own.</p><p>"Keith, stop–" Shiro tried to grab ahold of Keith but, he wasn’t fast enough, Keith had already grabbed Lance’s arm and twisted it behind his back. Keith forced Lance onto the floor, trying to grab both of his wrists when Lance, suddenly, flipped them around with a hard push against Keith's shoulders.</p><p>With both knees placed on either side of Keith's thigh and hips holding him down, Lance took the small knife from his belt  and pressed it against Keith's throat in a fast movement, the other hand pulling his head back by his hair, "what is your problem?" Lance asked – nearly shouted.</p><p>Keith laid still to avoid any more problems, completely ignore the pressure that was being put on his thighs. He had one of his hands trapped in between the strong muscle of the other’s leg and his body and, although, his other hand was free, he didn’t dare move it, opting to speak softly instead, "I'm sorry, it was a reflex."</p><p>"Reflex, my ass!" Lance exclaimed back, pulling his hair more.</p><p>Just when Keith was about to speak to defend himself again, Hunk decided to jump in and save some of Keith's ass, "Lance, c’mon, man, get off."</p><p>"He didn’t mean any harm to your or your friend," Shiro added to which Hunk just nodded eagerly to, taking a cautious step towards the two on the floor.</p><p>"Thank god for his shit aim then," Lance hissed out.</p><p>"My aim is not that bad," Keith quickly said.</p><p>Lance scoffed and eased his grip on him, letting go of Keith to stand up. He took a step back, standing next to Hunk, who looked more relieved than ever and raised his chin, hand on his waist with the dagger still on his hand.</p><p>As Keith stood, he definitely ignored the pointed look Shiro threw at him to face his attacker as he spoke, confidence ripping through, "I bet it's better than yours."</p><p>Lance could feel a vein pop out on his forehead and he held back any sort of comments to prevent him from getting into another fight.</p><p>Although Keith was taken aback by the silence, thinking Lance was the kind of guy to act on his competitiveness, he tried to mask the uncomfortable silence with a smirk, and he crossed his arms over his chest.</p><p>"Keith," Shiro spoke in his father voice, putting a hand over Keith's shoulder. Keith didn’t back down, though, instead, he also raised his head, almost like as if he were a wolf, challenging his prey.</p><p>"Lance, stop," Hunk groans, pulling Lance slightly back by his shirt, “this is not the time."</p><p>Both boys ignored their familiar ones, and turned to each other instead, both glaring and stepping closer to one another.</p><p>"You really want proof? Sure it won’t hurt your little ego, Mullet?" Lance took a threatening step towards Keith, looking down on the boy and Keith shrugged in return.</p><p>"Am I supposed to believe you?" Keith replied.</p><p>Lance held his stare for a bit longer before he shook his head in disbelief, taking a step back.</p><p>Keith watched as he grabbed his gun from his back and placed it at his shoulder, curling his body to make his aiming even more accurate than it usually is.</p><p>"Lance, you need to stop, buddy," Hunk pleaded. However, Hunk couldn't do much, He knew that interrupting his best friend would only make things worse, and Lance wouldn’t listen.</p><p>Lance took a breath to calm down, closed his eyes for a few seconds before he re-opening them, and he pauses.</p><p>He paused, he held his breath and aimed.</p><p>
  <em>Stop, breathe out and shoot–</em>
</p><p>"Stop!"</p><p>A yell caused him to abruptly break his stance. He accidentally pressed the trigger, holding in a scared yelp, and turned around with a mean glare, but his eyes quickly softened when he saw who had spoken to him.</p><p>"Pidge..." He muttered under his breath and before he knew it, he was slinging his rifle over his shoulder, breaking into a sprint towards his best friend, the one they thought they'd never see again after they had gotten separated from each other.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>Lance watched in horror as the unknown creatures took over each classmate from his classroom, groaning and most of them, limping. The… things moved to wherever the commotion was. and it wasn’t long before they got to a classmate of his, with an opened mouth as it sank its teeth into his skin.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>His professor desperately tried to hold the door closed, fighting off the rest of the crowd clawing their way in, but she wasn’t strong enough.  As soon as the door broke open, they all burst in, and Lance was frozen in his seat for a solid six seconds until it dawned on him.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"We have to go," he said to his best friend, standing from his seat abruptly. He glanced at Hunk frantically, "now, Hunk!" He pulled Hunk from his seat. He saw one of the things turn their way and his heartbeat increased more than ever, grabbing ahold of Hunk’s arm. He pulled him along, avoiding the disturbing pleads of their classmates and ran out of the infested classroom. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>The pair could see a few other students escaping from their own classrooms, some running for their lives whilst others threw the closest things at the threat, making an attempt to slow them down. Lance glanced back at his friend and he frowned, noticing the state he was still in.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Hunk, buddy, look at me," he pulled him into a corner, whispering and glancing around in panic. He cupped Hunk's cheeks in his hands and looked him in the eye, "we need to move, and you need to help me, I can’t do this alone, buddy."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Hunk was panting, gripping onto Lance's wrists tightly with short breaths when a sudden shout got their attention. Lance let go of Hunk to enter the classroom, He wasn't surprised to see this classroom just as bad as his was, but he couldn’t ignore the small figure that was backed up against the wall, holding what seemed to be pair of scissors and a broken ruler. He – she? They were swinging the scissors in front of them frantically, eyes closed shut with tears evident on their cheeks and trembling hands.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Lance didn’t have time to think, he quickly looked around and next thing he knew, he had grabbed the whiteboard eraser to throw it at the danger in front of the person. He watched as the noise brought the creature from its current state, towards him and he suddenly froze, feeling his body enable all movements. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Uh..." He said under his breath in fear. His fear only increased as the zombie limped towards him. He took a step back but had to stop as he hit the desk behind him, and he couldn’t think of anything. Out of options, he jumped onto the damned desk and hoped that some miracle would save him from dying. "Go find my friend, Hunk, he's standing right outside, and you'll be safe," he managed to get out through the fear.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The person didn’t say anything, instead, they ran out of the room. Lance gulped, leaning against the wall as he held his breath and closed his eyes.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>He waited, and he waited, expecting any sudden or sharp pain in any part of his body but nothing came. He only yelped when a cold liquid was suddenly sprayed on his calves. He gasped at the feeling and when he opened his eyes, he found himself grinning at his best friend with shaky lips. Lance watched as Hunk placed the chair down, cleaning his shaky hands on his trousers.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Thanks, buddy." Lance breathed out. He held onto Hunk's shoulder to get down from the desk and held the urge to barf when realized what the liquid on his leg was, "there’s blood on my legs, isn’t there?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Yeah, sorry about that," Hunk mumbled under his breath. "Pidge came to get me, she said you were in danger."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Lance glanced down at the girl who was hiding behind Hunk's large body, "thanks, Pidge. I owe my life."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"No problem, thanks, too,” she sighed out, hand clutching to Hunk’s shirt and scissor still in hand.</em>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>"Lance–" Pidge wasn't able to complete her sentence, Lance had already thrown his arms around her shoulder, hugging her tight with his face on the crook of her neck.</p><p>When a sharp cry escaped her lips, Lance removed his touch like as if he was burned, eyes wide in worry and taking in Pidge’s sudden reaction.</p><p>"Lance, she's injured," Matt cut in immediately, pushing the boy away softly.</p><p>Lance glanced at him briefly before looking at Pidge again. Much to his discontent, the girl was actually hurt, the huge hole in her shirt revealing the gush on the side of her torso and he frowned, taking a small step back to take her state in.</p><p>"I'm glad you guys are okay," Pidge said through gritted teeth. She smiled at her friends, holding onto Hunk’s arm for support.</p><p>"I'm glad you're alive too," Hunk muttered.</p><p>Lance was shocked. Worried, too, but shocked. Pidge wasn’t the type to let herself get this badly hurt. After that incident in the classroom, she asked Lance to show her how to handle a few weapons and, not even for a single second did she let her guard down. Heck, she even ended saving him a couple of times when he was too concentrated covering for Hunk. He wanted to cry, knowing Pidge ended up getting hurt and all because he couldn’t protect her.</p><p>With a glance at his friend now beside him, he patted Hunk’s arm to get his attention and took a deep breath, closing his eyes softly before looking at Pidge again.</p><p>"Let's go, we still have Hunk’s bag to treat you,” Lance motioned her over, glancing at the jeep with a nod.</p><p>"She's already been treated, genius," Keith said after them, rolling his eyes at the boy. Shiro had to hold in another scold, simply settling for a glare and Keith purposely ignored that look too. “Pidge, you should get back inside.”</p><p>Pidge nodded at the suggestion, “help me out, Hunk.”</p><p>Without another word, the two friends walked back inside the abandoned shopping centre with Hunk worrying over every single move Pidge made and groaned at whilst Lance took a few seconds to start moving again.</p><p>He scratched the back of his neck and walked beside them, “who treated you?”</p><p>“Right here,” she pointed at the spot she was previously laying on and stared up at them, “Shiro did. He was the buff guy trying to hold Keith back.”</p><p>Lance looked back at the unfamiliar men entering after them. Matt noticed his stare on him and returned it with a smile, Shiro doing the same shortly after. The guy he’d argued with – Keith, trailed behind the taller men, a scowl plastered on his face as he kept his attention to the side, eyes glued to the wall with his arms crossed over his chest.</p><p>Lance turned back to Pidge, “who does he think he is, seriously?”</p><p>Pidge chuckled, wincing in pain when Hunk accidentally pressed too hard on her stomach. He muttered an apology, getting back to examine her wound as she replied, “he has a bit of a temper. He’s not a bad guy, though. It’s because of him that I am actually still human, so, be nice.”</p><p>Lance could only scoff, crouching down beside Hunk.</p><p>“It’s actually quite clean,” Hunk broke the conversation with a positive smile. Pidge’s eyes brightened up slightly at the words and Hunk continued, “I do need to patch you up though. Knowing you, it’d be better to cover it up to prevent any infections. I’ll bring the jeep around and get the patches.”</p><p>“I’ll go with you,” Lance immediately said. “I’ll stay behind until you drive here.”</p><p>“It’ll be okay, buddy, don’t worry,” and with a pat to his shoulder, Hunk stood from his spot, baseball bat in his hand as he walked out.</p><p>Silence fell over the two friends. Pidge let out a sigh, eyes turning to Lance only to find him staring at her already, worry all over his face. She reassured she as alright with a wide grin and a thumbs up, ignoring the pain of her arm movement and Lance laughed, shaking his head at her, “glad you’re okay, Gremlin.”</p><p>“Do you need a nickname for everyone?”</p><p>Glaring, Lance turned to face Keith as the latter sat beside Pidge across from him and leaned back on his hands, sighing as an amused smug look settled on his face.</p><p>“Keith, that’s enough.” Shiro’s voice left no room for argument and the firm look he gave his brother was final; no more words were to be thrown at Lance.</p><p>“How, uhm… how do you know each other?”</p><p>Brown eyes saw Matt settle next to his sister, attention focused on Lance.</p><p>“Uh,” Lance cleared his throat, all eyes on him now and he cast his focus to the ground, “she’s in my poetry club – or was, I mean. There’s no more club for us to come back to.”</p><p>A sad smile was all Matt could muster in return.</p><p>“I’m glad you guys watched over her, thank you,” Shiro said, hand placed on top of Lance’s shoulder. “I’m Shiro,” then he pointed at Keith, “that’s my brother Keith, you already met him.”</p><p>“Sure did,” was all Lance said, glare already set and directed at the boy who could only return the look.</p><p>Before anyone could say anything else, a loud bark was heard throughout the open space, making their heads snap at the sound and even though Pidge <em>really</em> shouldn’t be moving at all that much, she still got up to her feet, grin on her lips and walked towards the golden dog, “holy shit, Green, I missed you, buddy, so much,” she managed to say all in one breath.</p><p>Unlike all the other times, Green didn’t jump on his owner the moment he saw her, he seemed to understand that she was hurt somehow – perhaps, Hunk had warned him beforehand. So, he sat at her feet, tail wagging more than usual as he accepted the pets his owner offered, whining in concern when Pidge winced at the movement.</p><p>Lance felt a grin of his own rise up to his face and he chuckled. He really is seeing his best friend again, and despite the fact that she is hurt, he has no doubts that Hunk will patch her up nicely, and she will be okay.</p><p>All in all, given the horrible circumstances, Lance felt a sense of happiness warm upon his chest.</p>
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